The Golden State

Many argue over what is considered "The Best Burger in LA."  Is it Father's Office, Umami, 25 Degrees, Golden State, or some other new bumping burger joint?  While I do enjoy a good burger, I can't quite understand the craze.  As a result, I haven't joined the burger bandwagon to truly see for myself whose burger reigns supreme in LA.  I thought Exile Kiss did a good job chronicling her burger adventure through LA.  She concludes that Father's Office, Rustic Canyon, and Golden State have the best burgers.  While I do agree Fathers Office is amazing, I may have to disagree about Golden State (I haven't been to Rustic Canyon).

Persian Cucumber Salad sliced persian cucumbers, lemon vinaigrette
The cucumbers were fresh and crunchy.  They were tossed in a really simple and light vinagrette with a medley of arrugula.  Nothing too spectacular but the refreshing nature of the dish helped cut the grease through the meal.


French Fries
Crispy.  Golden.  Fried.   The ketchup here is very special.  Sorry no picture!  It is a curry ketchup that has all the tomato-ey goodness of ketchup, but the kicked up spiciness of curry.  It really is something, and I scooped up as much as I could.  I even slathered it all over my burger.





Fried Sweet Potato Wedges served with housemade garlic aioli
People really go gaga for these fries.  They are unique in that they are super soft and sweet.  It's almost like they made a sweet potato mash and then reshaped them into logs and fried them.  There is definitely something special about the texture.  So much so, I found them distracting to eat with the burger.  


The Burger harris farms beef, fiscalini farms cheddar, glazed applewood smoked bacon, arugula, housemade aioli & ketchup
Big mistake coming here on a Sunday.  They ran out of their brioche buns!!  Instead, they were forced to serve the burgers on ciabatta bread.  Uhh, can we say big difference?  While I imagine a brioche bun to be light, fluffy, and perfectly absorbent to the natural sauces and juices from the burger, the ciabatta bread was drier, crunchier, and in the end, a less ideal companion to the ultimate burger.  The meat was still juicy.  The cheese was very mild.  The bacon was smoky and really brought most of the flavor.  Overall, I felt the burger was dry and bland, but I really blame that on the bun.  I could barely taste any of the aioli and ketchup.  I could taste the potential, and will surely come back to try it on a weekday.


Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream
Golden State is probably the only place, other than Scoops itself, to serve Scoops Ice Cream.  While I have tried ever so hard to swing by Scoops to try one or any of its many interesting flavors, I have always been unsuccessful.  It being a Sunday night at Golden State didn't leave us many options with regards to flavor.  Most of selections were down to the last scoops.  I had to settle for a chocolate ice cream version of cookies 'n cream.  It was pretty good, but nothing spectacular or imaginitive, which is something I expect of Scoops.


We, meaning Smooth Obturator, Triple T, and I enjoyed ourselves at Golden State.  I cannot say I loved the burger though.  It was an unfortunate night where all the stars were not aligned.  I will have to come back here another night to give the burger another shot.  For now, Father's Office and In 'N Out reign supreme.

Golden State
426 N Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036


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